Ambrosial Flatbread

We went nearly a week without the magical einkorn bread. Somehow, contrary to scripture, the jar of flour did run dry and we had to order more from Amazon. And then there was the long weekend which Ruined Everything. But finally, on Tuesday, it came. And so Matt stood around in his parent’s kitchen all yesterday afternoon making pitas.

The pita is a really satisfying kind of bread. A loaf is good, certainly, but you have to cut it, which means finding a knife, and a plate, and then worrying about crumbs. If you’re going to toast a piece of loaf bread it means making sure the slice doesn’t go so far into the toaster that you have to dig it out with a fork, which makes the bread disintegrate. There’s just a lot of room for sorrow with a loaf of bread.

But with pita, and really, let’s broaden its glorious applications and say Flat Bread, there is really only room for joy. To begin with, you can just take one and eat it. Or, if you have a little time, you can pop it in the toaster and then lather it with butter. And you don’t need to find a knife, which we have already established can be a drag. You can just take the stick of butter and apply it directly to the flat bread. I know this because I’ve seen my children do it. Just like I’ve seen then try to use the water dispenser on the fridge like a water fountain. Children are awful.

If you have a little more time, you can lay your golden round of einkorn flatbread gently in the oven covered with cheese and a hit of jalapeño. You stand there and watch the cheese melt, drumming your fingers on the counter and praying no one comes in to bother you or notice what you’re eating.

And now, of course, when we all sit down to eat luncheon, I won’t have to face down a large portion of naked chicken, bereft of its tender bed of potato or little fluffs of rigatoni. It’s not that I don’t love chicken, or a chop. It’s that toiling through a whole piece of meat, without some other taste to wrap it in, or vary it’s endless healthy benefits, is mentally taxing.

I mean, it’s not Too taxing. Not having any food at all would be, obviously, a great deal more upsetting. But starvation is the not trial I am dealing with, and we must all face our own troubles and not imagine ourselves to have someone else’s unhappiness.

Anyway, it’s nearly time for breakfast. So if you’ll just excuse me, I need to go fry an egg, and toast a little flat bread. I’m sure you understand my not being able to carry on here.